MANOJ KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal arises out of the judgment dtd. 9/8/2012 and the order dtd. 13/8/2012 passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Palwal, whereby the present appellant was held guilty and convicted for the commission of offence under Ss. 363, 376(2)(f), 302 and 365 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') and was sentenced in the following manner:-

(2.) The factual matrix in which the appellant came to be prosecuted and convicted has been set out in detail in the judgment passed by the learned trial Court. We need not, therefore, recapitulate the same all over again except to the extent it is required for the disposal of the instant appeal by us.

(3.) Briefly stated, the FIR in the instant case was lodged on the basis of the statement of PW-2 Sunil Kumar, father of the victim, who met SI/SHO Ravinder Singh PW-12 and submitted one application Ex.P-2. As per the said application, he was a labourer by occupation. The appellant/accused used to work with him about 2-3 years ago. At about 6.00 p.m. on 30/4/2009, the appellant came to his house and kidnapped his minor daughter 'A' (name withheld in view of the provisions contained in Sec. 228-A of the IPC and in view of the law laid down in the judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in State of Karnatka Vs. Puttaraja, 2004(1) R.C.R. (Crl.) 113), aged about 9 years. The accused took her away on his bicycle and his son Manish PW-3 had seen the appellant, while taking away his daughter 'A'. Thereafter, he and his son Manish made their endeavour to trace out his daughter, but could not succeed. In the early morning on 1/5/2009, the complainant came to know that the dead body of his daughter 'A' was lying in the fields of Narbir resident of Kithwari. He reached the spot and found the dead body of his daughter in nude condition lying there. He raised the suspicion that she had been raped and then murdered by way of strangulation. Her clothes and slippers (chappal) were lying nearby and he prayed for action against the accused. On the basis of his statement, the FIR Ex.PW6/B was registered at Police Station Camp, Palwal under Ss. 363, 376(2), 302 of IPC against the present appellant and the police machinery was set into motion.